Topic 6- Crime And Deviance Flashcards
What is the general trend with ethnicity and crime?
Black people make up 2.8% of the population but 1% of the prison population
Asians make up 4.7% of the population but 6% of the prison population
Whites are under-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system
What is the link between victim surveys and ethnicity?
Surveys on what crimes people have been victim to, they found black people are over-represented in official statistics in mugging people.
Limitations: don’t include corporate crimes, and relies on memory
What are self report studies and how do they link to ethnicity?
Asks individuals to disclose their own violent behaviour,
Graham and bowling- found offending between blacks and whites were similar, asians abit lower
Sharp and budd- found whites were more likely to admit to crime followed by blacks then asians.
Home office- found white people used a class drugs more than blacks or asians
How does policing link to ethnicity?
Stop and search- black people are 7x more likely to be stopped and asians 2x more than whites
Terrorism act 2000- enabled police to stop people without suspicion and found asians were stopped 3x more than other groups. Ethnic minorities felt over policed and under protected.
Tasers- out of 10000, asians were tased 3 times, whites 6, and black 18
Police racism- macppherson- institutional racism within the metropolitan police force, they had a ‘canteen culture’
What is the link between punishment and ethnic groups?
Arrests and cautions- blacks were 3x more likely than whites
Prosecution and trial- more likely to drop cases against ethnic minorities,
Conviction, sentencing and prison- black and asian defendants are more likely to be found not guilty, assuming that cops bring weaker cases against ethnic minorities.
Hood- found blacks do 3 months and asians 9 months longer sentences than whites
What are left realist explanations to the ethnic difference in offending?
Lea and young- argue differences are real and racism has some impact. They believe 3 factors produce crime:
1) relative dep
2) subcultures
3) marginalisation
These link to ethnicity, as racism leads to marginalisation- leads to unemployment- leads to relative dep- leads to delinquent subcultures- leads to crime
What are neo-marxist explanations to the ethnic difference in offending?
They do not accept official statistics, they see crime as a resistance to capitalism. Believe statistics are a form of social construction that seeks to stereotype minorities as criminal.
Gilroy- the myth of black criminality- black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes, crime is resistance to british imperialism.
Hall- policing the crisis- in the moral panic of the increase in mugging, the black community were used as scapegoats to distract people from wider societal problems.
How do neighbourhoods explain ethnic differences in crime?
Fritzgerald- argues neighbourhoods explain ethnic differences in crime. Street robbery was higher in poorer areas, black youths were more likely to be in these areas.
Sharp and budd- black offenders were more likely to be caught, raising visibility to authorities.
Explain the link between ethnicity and victimisation?
Racist victimisation occurs when an individual is selected as a target on the basis of their ethnicity.
In 2015 54000 racist incidents were recorded in england and wales
What are the responses to victimisation
They set up situational crime prevention strategies such as fireproof doors
